Fundación Paraguaya, winner of Atlas’s Templeton Freedom Award for Social Entrepreneurship in 2009, has been racking up awards for its development of the San Francisco Agriculture School – a financially self-sufficient educational experience for transforming poor youth into successful entrepreneurs. The School runs 17 small-scale, on-campus, farming enterprises that train students not only how to increase crop yields, but how to maximize profits as well. The aim is for these micro-businesses to earn enough to cover all the operational costs. So far it’s been a smashing success. San Francisco’s model is being replicated in 25 developing countries and Fundación Paraguaya has been recognized by UNESCO, named the 2008 BBC/Newsweek World Challenge runner-up, and most recently was awarded a $35,000 prize from the Global Development Network & the government of Japan. On its website, Paraguaya provides a manual on how to replicate the “education that pays for itself” model.
BBC World Challenge - Paraguay - Escuela Agricola
This is a fantastic project that deserves the recognition. I was at the GDN conference where Martin Burt won the award. This blog site was circulated at the conference which talks a bit about the project - http://www.gdnetcomms.wordpress.com